Sunday, March 4, 2012

[papercreters] Re: my dome project

Yes and No.

Papercrete is usually mixed in a very watery state, and then allowed to drain and dry, so a slump test for a very watery mix doesn't tell someone much.

On the other hand, if you pour the watery mix into your test vessel that has holes in the bottom. Then allow most of the water to drain out, and then slump test the drained papercrete, you can get an idea how well your mix will hold together as it dries, but it's not very reliable.

As a rule of thumb, the more sand you put into a mix, the more it will slump. The more paper in your mix the better it will hold it's shape. Adding lime (up to a point) to the mix will tend to make a mix more sticky/clingy and less slumpy too.

I haven't found a slump test to be particularly helpful in predicting how the final dry product will perform.

Compressing or packing wet drained papercrete into place could dramatically change how well it clings. Application technique is just as important as the ingredient mix ratios used in the contents of your mix.

Be prepared to try a few different mixes and application techniques to decide what you like best. It might not be a bad idea to try a few small samples where you don't try keep them laying down flat as they dry. That would be a far more effective test than a slump test.


--- In papercreters@yahoogroups.com, "bugnstein" <bugnstein@...> wrote:
>
> Yes, a larger mesh would be used. Has anyone done slump test prior to pouring?
>


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